Hey Mark,
short term memory is often a part of ageing.
Memory losses with FTD are not the usual, especially in the earlier stages, but it can happen. It's normally more issues around behaviour, language and executive functioning.
However, what I found with Chris was that his executive functions deteriorated quite quickly and the fact he could not absorb complex information made it seem like he was having memory issues. It wasn't really - he didn't absorb and process information well (this is what executive functioning is).
Everyone is so different, and you have to compare against how the person was before. So I can only compare Chris to Chris, not to someone else if that makes sense.
So before FTD he ran his own cafe. He had a list of a hundred things in his head all the time and he was doing so many things at once - yes a man that truly could multitask! :lol:
He could be cooking 10 different meals and be carrying on at least 2 conversations at the same time. He held long shopping lists in his head and even knew how much money that would add up to cost.
After FTD saying - "we see the doctor on Monday" would be remembered. But saying - "on Monday we will see Dr X and get this checked and scripts and then we should think about some new shirts and maybe we can do a nice different way of driving home." He would not absorb this and would not remember the important bit - Dr on Monday. This was hard to adjust to as we would once have sat and discussed all the bits to do with an outing.
So as a result he would appear totally shocked on a given morning to find out I was getting him ready for something in particular even though I had told him about it, probably more than once. Of course he would accuse me of always leaving it til the last minute to tell him things because I did not want him to know what was going on.
So I had to try to keep information brief enough for him to absorb, without being so brief that he felt like an idiot (he was by no means an idiot no matter how much FTD he had). I would try to tell things several times to help them be absorbed too. eg On Monday night say - Next Monday we are going to your GP for regular scripts and checkup. Then repeat that around Friday, and then again say it Sunday night.
Actually exhausting for the CALS - I had enough trouble remembering and coordinating everything even with an electronic calendar, but had to remember to keep telling Chris in advance.
If I did not, he would become furious and that always made things nearly impossible.
If you found that too difficult to read and absorb, I probably just did a terrible job of explaining it all! :lol: